Catholic priest guilty in court.

Catholics like Ted Seeber, who realize the immorality of shielding child rapists while inexplicably remaining supporters of the Catholic church, will ironically take this as proof that the Catholic church cooperates with the police to make sure the rapists within their ranks get persecuted rather than proof that the church protects complicit priests from persecution.

Of course, the religious figure will scarcely suffer even an inconvenience.

Judge John Torrence immediately sentenced Finn to two years’ of probation, then suspended the imposition of the sentence. That means that if Finn finishes the probation without incident and completes nine steps as part of his sentence, the bishop’s criminal record will be expunged.

Finn had faced a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine on each charge. The diocese had faced a fine of up to $5,000 on each of its two counts if convicted.

And the Catholic church, which claims the deeds to morality, sure isn’t going to kick out the man who protected the child rapist and the church sooner than the victim.

Finn currently serves on the Administrative and the Priorities and Plans Committees for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is chairman of the Bishop’s Task Force on the Life and Dignity of the Human Person.

But the church is deeply concerned about the problem of people who’d protect child rapists, and they’re going to root them out.